On Thursday, May 17 at 7:00 PM in the second floor conference room of the Bass Pro Shop at Concord Mills, we will be dedicating a part of our monthly Board of Directors meeting to a presentation from Officer Amy Stukey, Community Coordinator for CMPD University City Division’s Response Area 1, which includes the Villages of Leacroft. Officer Stukey will be briefing us on the current status of safety and security for our response area and providing us with some tips and cautions, and she will be providing an overview of the Neighborhood Watch program.

Residents in the community working with the police department to reduce crime and to improve the quality of life.

Residents in the community taking on a leadership role and accepting responsibility for their community.

Residents coming together to discuss their concerns which lead to developing a plan of action that addresses those concerns.

The Neighborhood Watch program is NOT:

A vigilante force working outside the normal procedures of law enforcement.

A program designed for participants to take personal risks to prevent crime.

A 100% guarantee that crime will not occur in your neighborhood.

Successful Neighborhood Watch programs:

Have strong leadership.

Have strong community involvement.

Have clear and concise goals which are not always crime prevention.

Responsibilities of Neighborhood Watch members:

Chairperson – Liaison between the community and the police department.

Street Captains – Facilitates the flow of information between their neighbors and the Chairperson.

Residents – Actively observe their surroundings and notify their neighbors and Street Captain or CMPD directly (911) when they notice something suspicious.

So as you can see, it’s not very involved and in doesn’t take a lot of your time. Neighborhood Watch is about ”observing and reporting”, to CMPD and the community, so we can all help each other and prevent crime.

And here are the latest statistics for January to March our community from CMPD:

As you can see, the frequency of incidents has been low and much of what has occurred in our community has been minor (non-violent, non-life threatening). For that we may be grateful. But increased vigilance on our part can further improve this.

Please join us at our meeting on Thursday, May 17 at 7:00 PM in the second floor conference room of the Bass Pro Shop at Concord Mills. I think you’ll find in very informative and you’ll see how easy it is to participate.